Faceless
by tenno
Summary: How does the Faceless One know Shokoti?


Faceless

The Elders Tower in Zalesia looked like white stone covered in a translucent blue sheen. It was the tallest man-made structure in the world and most thought that it was a purely magical phenomenon. Like the best magic though, it wasn't magic alone that made the tower soar into the clouds. Scientists had discovered microbial creatures that excreted the white stone; the magic compelled them to grow into the structure that housed Eternia's governing body. As long as there was magic, the tower would grow and heal itself. The science of it had always fascinated Count Powers. Eternia was rich in magic, but the recent contact with the Zodac Cosmic Enforcers had opened up new possibilities of combining the two. Magic had given the greatest of their sorcerers access to multiple dimensions, but access to the science had brought them worlds.

It was love of the new sciences that brought Nikolas Powers to Zalesia. But it was his work with the Avions during the most recent crisis that had him here today, a prospective member of the Elders Council itself. The Elders were powerful sorcerers made more so by their exclusive access to whatever secret they guarded, a secret that granted them near immortality. Whatever that secret was, most were sure it involved the dozens of magical artifacts they kept hidden away, deemed too dangerous to be in the public's hands. Nikolas knew it would take him years of study before he would even know the right questions to ask, much less start his own experimentation with the new magic. If things went well today, he would have more years than he could count.

The Elders sat on pillars above them listening to the official record of the Avion crisis. A landslide had redirected the flow of the Shikoba river. For the Avions, it was a minor inconvenience. But in the canyons of the underworld, the Cadians lost their only source of water. With his people dying all around him from the resulting ecological crisis, Chief Cerdovus was unwilling to negotiate. They ascended the mountain and took what they wanted. Count Powers was in Avion City studying the fabled Staff of Avion when the attacks started. Both factions would claim that he had frozen the river, forcing both parties to come to the table. But his magic had been more subtle than that, suspending the molecules of the water and the life it held down to the smallest single-celled creature. Not one creature in the river died and new paths were found for the river to find its way to the underworld.

It was chance that had placed him in Avion at the right moment. He was there to study the Staff and whatever happened in Zalesia today, he planned to return. Almost everyone thought that the Staff gave the Avions their powers of flight, but that didn't seem accurate. When their young were ready to fly, they touched the staff and leapt. He had watched them. Just kids, fearlessly flinging themselves off the side of a cliff and then soaring back to the welcoming arms of their parents. He had touched it himself. He had heard something. Something whispering a word. If he could remember the word, would he discover the Staff's secrets? He felt like he could remember it, like a dream that unveils itself only when a certain food is tasted or a song heard. Shhh…

Suddenly, there was silence in the great room. Nikolas wondered if he had been asked a question he was supposed to answer. His loss of concentration surprised even himself. When a voice came, there was no way of knowing which of the Elders spoke. "We will convene privately to discuss Count Powers' deeds." The Zodac Enforcer present walked away; the Elders simply vanished. The enforcers he had met all called them self Zodac. What had brought them here? Why now? By their own admission, they had been watching Eternia since before there had been people here.

Nikolas placed his hand on his assistant's arm, a dark-skinned man that had once tutored him, but had no magical affinity himself. Racca had been loyal to Nikolas since his talent had first revealed itself. "I need to go to my study, Racca. I think I might be on the verge of a breakthrough regarding the Staff of Avion. Let Linda know what happened here."

"Of course," Racca said, his desert accent thick. "Only, how did it go? I listened the whole time, but I can't tell which way they're leaning, sir."

Nikolas cracked a smile. "No one ever can."

Nikolas opened a door that anyone could open, but it took him to a place only he could go. The door met the intent of the hand that touched it. With a step, it took him hundreds of kilometers away to his private study. There was no real door to the room, the contents inside were just too dangerous. Filled with books, measuring devices, and minor artifacts, his study was a chronicle of his pursuit of knowledge. Prominent along one wall was a cultural treasure trove from the Gar people. As a student, he believed that the sorcery taught at the academy would be all the more powerful if combined with the secret magic of the Gar. His wardrobe was modeled after the garb of the traditional Gar shaman. It provided him protection from nearly any kind of physical or magical attack. His theory that the magics could be made compatible had rewarded him with incredible power; but even more so, a wife. The Gar had initially refused him, but Linda had brought him into her home and they had fallen in love. Seeking knowledge, he had gained a life worth living.

Nikolas meditated, forcing a green fire he projected into shapes whose forms were designed to bring focus. He couldn't stop thinking of Linda. Though not an Elder, the magic would prolong her life. But there would be sacrifices. Children. The influence of the Elders on the future of Eternia and the whole dimension itself was so great that they had agreed long ago to deny themselves a lineage. He had been surprised that Linda wasn't more upset when he'd reminded her. Perhaps he was meant to be an Elder.

Then a voice plainly whispered, _Shokoti_. It was the word he'd heard when he'd touched the Staff of Avion. _Shokoti_. It was plain now. He would never unhear it. For no reason he knew, the word chilled him.

The sight of Avions flying through the air anywhere away from their mountain eyries was unusual and would turn heads. The sight of an entire flock had never been seen at the Elders Tower of Zalesia. The extendar guards met them at the gates with more than a little trepidation. Soon, they were running to find a thief and avoid a war.

Nikolas Powers stroked Linda's long, dark hair; his other hand resting on her naked, blue hip. When he touched her, she hummed a song he'd written for her. "There is no way to know what the Elders are thinking. Inductions are rare enough that there isn't a precedent."

"Hmmm…," she said, arching her back into his chest.

"How come you never talk about children?" he asked. Her body stiffened. "We never talked about it and now it's too late. Why haven't we talked about it?"

Linda was silent a moment. He knew her well enough that he knew she was getting ready to tell him something she didn't think he would want to hear.

Racca entered without knocking. Linda pulled the covers over herself. Racca had been with them too long for Nikolas to be angry with him. Nikolas knew whatever it was must be dire.

Racca was breathless. "The Avions have brought an army. They say the Staff has been stolen. They say you took it, Count Powers." Racca's eyes were on Linda, barely covered by her sheets. Nikolas heard his words, but all he could think about was Racca's eyes on his wife.

"You pre tend to be our sav iour. But you is thief." The Avions had a hard time with the language of outsiders. Their own language was much based on the tone of the word said, the way it was sung. They described the language of the rest of Eternia as a language that had fallen from the skies and broken on the rock.

The Avions would not come indoors. They loathed confinement in a windowless room. Instead, they forced Count Powers to meet them in the open market place. The people had all but disappeared. Crowded as it was with Avion's warriors, it still seemed strangely quiet without the bustle of buying and selling. Count Powers had insisted on coming alone with one exception. Without a word, Zodac had followed him.

"I don't know why you think I have the staff. I don't."

"You say you want to stu dy it. You say the staff do not make us fly. You find out." The Avions flapped the wings that were strapped to their arms almost constantly, as important to them as any other part of their body, perpetually groomed and maintained. "Our peo ple has mag ic too. You do not know. We see you in our mists."

"Show me," Count Powers said.

"I will," the Avion said. Then a short spear shot through his hands, its blade pointed directly at the sorcerer's heart. Count Powers didn't have time to respond. He felt a rush of sadness and knew that the image of the Avion man burning in front of him would haunt him forever. He had put those Gar spells of protection in place years ago. It wouldn't be something he could explain to the Avions. More of them would attack him now. More of them would die.

But they didn't attack. They were frozen where they stood. The only thing that moved was Zodac's cosmic gun, freezing time around Nikolas' attackers. "I didn't mean for this to happen," Count Powers told him. Zodac nodded. "I don't have the staff."

"You do," Zodac said.

"I don't understand."

"Your wife is waiting for you. It's time," Zodac said.

Count Powers ran. He knew he was a strange sight, garbed the way he was, running was awkward. He felt strange himself. He couldn't remember the last time he'd physically ran anywhere. But Zodac had warned him. His wife. She must be in danger. Had the Avions attacked her? He was sure that wasn't it. They were after him. No, they thought they were after him. The mists had revealed his involvement, but that had to be false in some way. How could the mists be wrong? Who could have faked his involvement? The answer was as clear to him as the memory of the man's eyes on his wife. Racca. Racca had studied with him. He had no affinity for magic himself, but he could use many of the artifacts he helped care for.

And Racca was with his wife. She would never see his betrayal coming.

The door to his apartments in the tower looked like all the others. With the Gar word for ram, they shattered into a harmless puff of dust. Inside, Linda was alone. "Where is Racca?" he growled.

Linda closed the book and stood. "Nik, what's happened?"

"Racca stole the Staff of Avion."

She was close to him now. He could smell her strong Gar perfume, a smell that seemed to burn his ears. She whispered, just loud enough for him to hear. "Forget about the Avions, Nikolas. The Elders have already agreed to raise you up. Your involvement with the Avions had nothing to do with it. The Avions anger over their lost staff will not stop them. It was always the way you moved the magic in ways no one had dreamed. Even the Elders want that power."

"Linda, if Racca took the Staff, I have to find him. The Avions will not stop until they get it back." Her body tensed. "Linda, are you trying to protect Racca? Are you having an affair?"

She laughed. It was a hysterical laugh the like of which he'd never heard from her. "Nikolas, I'm not having an affair with Racca. You've been so focused on the Elders, that you have no idea what's happening here in your own house. I would not cheat on the father of my child."

"Father... Father... But it is forbidden by the Elders."

"That's why you couldn't know until the Elders decided."

Nikolas' sharp mind went through the possible reactions of the Elders. Zodac. The Avions. "I must tell them, Linda."

She held him closer. "I have supported you and loved you for years. Without me, you would never have been accepted by the Gar. And without the Gar, the Elders wouldn't even know your name." Her hands moved over his body. "I have asked for nothing in return but you. I have delighted in your achievements." Her perfume was heavy in his head. "Now, I ask one thing. I want to have this baby. You will keep it secret." Suddenly, she pulled away from him, walked into their bedroom, and closed the door.

Less than an hour had passed before the Elders summoned Count Powers back to their chamber. He had tried looking for Racca, but found nothing. He wasn't willing to ask his wife again. He had never seen her like this. Then again, he had never seen her pregnant and surrounded by the most powerful beings on Eternia. Racca could wait.

The chamber was all green and blue flaming light and silence. All of the noise of the chamber was in his mind. The secrets, so potentially dangerous, that even an Elder's tongue would not say them.

As the power entered him, he felt his organs burst. He felt his senses shatter all at once. Too much color. Too much noise. The smell of his wife's perfume. His skin burning away. His mouth full of its smoke. The smell of his wife's perfume.

The Star Seed. The power of the universe itself. All of the secrets revealed. He was an Elder.

Elder Powers was not surprised to see the doors to his apartments already replaced. It was the Elders Tower. It was strange the power inside him. He felt burnt out-like he was watching the world instead of being in it. The only thing that felt real was the way he needed to see his wife. He wouldn't be the only Elder that had a child. He wouldn't be the first to watch his child die while he barely aged. But that didn't lessen the flood of emotion he felt. They would have a child.

Inside the apartment, Linda was dressed in ceremonially Gar attire. She was celebrating him. Everything between them would be okay. They would be fine-more than fine. She smiled at him-a look of triumph.

"You're one of them now," she said.

"We are," he told her.

"Then I have a gift for you," she said, her voice almost fruity in its fullness.

"That seems unnecessary. The baby is your gift."

Then he heard Racca's thick accent. And his first thought was still, they're having an affair. But Racca did have a gift for him. It was the Staff of Avion. The Staff was taller than a man and topped with a strange shape embedded with the skull of a creature that as far as Elder Powers knew, had never existed. It was like gold, but darker and unbreakable.

"It was you," Nikolas said. "You did take the Staff. Why?"

Linda crossed the room and took the Staff from Racca. "He took for me. It is a gift that will make us equals."

"I don't understand. How could you take the Staff from the Avions? The Avions have used it for centuries."

"Yes, they have. Three centuries to be precise. Because that's when they stole it from my people. It was our greatest weapon. But they couldn't figure out how to use it. So, they added it to their ceremony as a forgotten sign of their victory over us. The Staff is fear incarnate. When the Avion brats touched it, the Staff took their fear, empowering itself. And then they hurled themselves off that cliff with no fear. The fools had no idea what the Staff could have done for them. So, I asked Racca to take it for me."

"How could you have known all this? Even I never suspected the Staff was Gar."

"I've always known."

"How long have you been planning this?"

She lifted the Staff. "Since I met you."

He shook his head. He didn't believe her. He couldn't. "We're giving the Staff back," he said.

"No. We're family. Join me and your daughter. The fear stored in the Staff is nearly limitless now. Who knows how powerful we could be?"

Again, he shook his head. "Hand it to me now."

"Don't force me to fight you, Nik. Do you think I'd get this far and then surrender the property of the Gar? With this Staff, I am newly born, like you. How can you, of all people, begrudge me of that?"

It was the Staff. Elder Powers knew that some power inside the Staff was manipulating his wife. He'd heard of artifacts that could possess a person. His magic leapt from his hand; he tried to grab the Staff, pull it from her hand. Nothing happened. His magic withered at the Staff's touch.

"You will not," she shrieked. It's power lashed out at him. It couldn't be greater than the might of the Elders, could it? He felt the flame of the Elders dying as the dark energy tried to snuff him out. "You will not," she said again. "The Staff is mine forever."

"Linda," he gasped.

Her eyes were dark, black, her retinas gone. "No. I am not her anymore. I am Shokoti, Goddess of fear."

A few moments ago, Nikolas Powers was contemplating the prospect of near immortality. Now, his death seemed imminent. But she didn't strike. "Do not interfere," she told him, one long finger pointing to his chest. "Lord Masque, come with me." They were gone inside of a folding blackness.

Elder Powers recovered quickly. He looked around his room. The rich colors favored by the Gar that they had used to furnish the apartment were strangely muted. They looked worn or like they had been awash in gray.

Shokoti. Had the Staff of Avion been trying to warn him? Or had it been trying to control him the way it had his wife? Whatever it was, the once seemingly simple artifact had masked its great power for centuries. Even the Gar must not have understood its power or they would never have lost it the Avions. They would have exterminated them. How could a power like this exist in obscurity that rivaled even that of the power of the Star Seed?

Thinking these thoughts, he was unsurprised to see Zodac enter the room. Zodac had a darker skin they reminded Nikolas of Racca's people, but his forearms were lined with a strange fin that marked him as alien to Eternia. No one had ever seen a Zodac Enforcer without his helmet, though there were some differences in their uniforms. This helmet was a burnished silver color, with round dark eyes. His armor was red, marked with the cosmic symbol of three, solid white lines. The boots appeared to be the same strange metal of the helmet. He looked around the room until his eyes finally set on Nikolas. "We have to find her."

"You knew all about this."

The voice was consistently monotone. "Yes."

"What is it?"

Zodac's head cocked. He hesitated. Nikolas had never seen that. "The universe is balanced. It is a precarious dance between expansion and contraction. The dark energy of what we call the Staff of the Sleeping Beast was necessary at the start of the universe. It struck the Star Seed. The energies released gave birth to the universe. The dark energy forced apart even as the Star Seed tried to pull everything back to itself. Balance. If the Staff of the Sleeping Beast is not controlled, its dark energy could force the universe apart at such a rate that the Star Seed could never gather it. The stars themselves would fall apart and the universe go cold. Your wife, the creature now calling herself Shokoti, is unaware of the Staff's intent. She sees only the world and misses the universe all around it. We must stop her."

The scope of the catastrophe was so great even Nikolas' long-studying, sharp mind could hardly comprehend what it was being told. The Star Seed and the Staff of Avion weren't just magical artifacts, they were fundamental forces.

"I will gather my things." He gathered his favorite staff, a Gar weapon called the Havoc Staff. He wondered what secrets it might hold for him. He picked up an amulet called the Ram Stone. It could break any barrier. Both were incredibly dangerous; they made him nearly invincible. He inspected his protective garb. It was undamaged. He was ready.

Zodac stood waiting. He had a neverending patience. Nikolas wondered how long the cosmic enforcers lived and the way it made him see the movement of the stars and planets.

"There is one thing," Nikolas asked. "My wife, Linda, is pregnant."

"She is not your wife anymore."

"She will always be my wife." The two men stared at each other. "Is there anyway we can save them?"

The answer took a long time coming. Another unusual pause, like Zodac was listening to voices in his helmet; Nikolas suspected he was. "If I can find a way to save them, I will."

If there was a way. Nikolas would find it. "Do you know where she is?"

"She's here," Zodac said.

The two men rushed to the Elders chamber. The walls were cracked. The magic that should have lasted forever was terribly damaged. But it could still be recovered.

Strange balls of green flesh with tentacles that ended in fanged mouths swarmed the chamber. Several had attached themselves to the Elders. Elder Powers could see none of them still fighting back. Several suddenly swerved through the air and darted towards the new arrivals. Zodac's gun came up, freezing the darklings. But it didn't hold. The darklings were tremoring. Elder Powers could see that they would break through soon. "We have to help the others," he screamed over the hissing creatures.

Zodac's voice was still calm. "We cannot stop the darklings. We must stop them at the source. They are below us."

Elder Powers raised the Ram Stone and commanded the floor of the chamber be moved. It blasted apart, even taking some of the darklings out of the air with it. Below the chamber was full of caverns Elder Powers had never known were there.

"They were not there. Shokoti has made them," Zodac informed him. How much of his mind could the alien read?

Nikolas followed Zodac slowly through the caverns. He had been right. These caverns were not natural. They were carved by magic. It was a magical endeavor that should have taken months to complete.

More of the darklings suddenly swooped from the black, empty gaping hole in the caves. Zodac's gun flashed. "We must hurry," Zodac said. "The life of the universe is diminishing. I can feel the dark energy growing as the Elders fall."

Zodac ran. Nikolas followed. They didn't have far to go. Shokoti had made an enormous chamber for herself adjacent to a dark lake. "Do not touch the lake," Zodac commanded. "It is dark matter. It will destroy even the atoms that make up your being."

"You are too late," Shokoti told them. The Elders are defeated. This world is mine. But you are not too late to join me."

Elder Powers screamed. "Linda, you know not what you do!"

Then a creature rose from the lake of dark matter. It took on the form of a man. But it was Racca, wearing a strange hood. How could he have survived what even Zodac feared? Racca stepped from the lake. Not a drop clung to him or escaped the pool. Shokoti spoke to him. "The enforcer is yours, Lord Masque. Kill him."

Lord Masque raised his arms, lifting his short cape. Zodac fired at him, but nothing happened. The silver light that emanated from him shattered Zodac's armor and helmet. Burnt alien flesh looked very much like burnt human flesh.

Elder Powers raised his Havoc Staff and released such a powerful stream of energy that its ram's head turned red. Lord Masque hid behind his cape, but he was beginning to give ground. Elder Powers knew he had the upper hand. Perhaps he would have. But he had honestly believed that he was safe from his wife.

The dark energy that struck him would have burned him away but for the protective Gar armor he wore. Still, his head was exposed and burn it did. Before his transformation into an Elder, he would have been dead. Part of him wished he was. "Linda," he screamed.

"Shokoti," she whispered.

The magic of the Elders had numbed him to much of the emotion that burdened normal men. But not what he felt for Linda. And his baby. He had felt so much hope for them. Now, his dreams were dead and he was dying. She didn't have to attack him again to make that so. The first blow had done the job. As she knew it would. She was truly lost to him.

Elder Powers had always wondered with revulsion what the effect of the Ram Stone would be if used on a living creature. He raised the ancient amulet and brought it to bear on the creature Shokoti.

The Elders Tower was gone. What was left was sealed by a magic that was supposed to last as long as the world. But Nikolas Powers and Zodac knew the Staff wouldn't let it. Nikolas wondered how he could see the ruins of Zalesia at all. His eyes were gone. Somehow, Zodac had sustained him. Nikolas' face was gone, scarred over with solid flesh and a sheen of magical flame. He was faceless.

The Elders had fled to an ancient fortress Nikolas had never heard of. Apparently, it had been theirs before even the ancient Elders Tower. They would continue to be Eternia's governing body, but they would not return to Zalesia.

"We have an agreement," Zodac said. "You will wait for her return."

"Your sure she's not dead?" When the Ram Stone had finished igniting the cavern like a star, all that had remained was his daughter, revealed by the Stone, but sustained by Zodac.

"She is sleeping. She is like a dark star awaiting its birth."

"If she returns, I will stop her. And as we agreed, the Staff of Avion-I mean the Staff of the Sleeping Beast will be given to you. And its secrets kept safe." A hot wind unnatural to Zalesia swirled around them both. "And my daughter?"

Nikolas thought it was the first time anyone on Eternia had seen Zodac smile. The alien said, "She flies through space at such speeds that it will keep her a healthy newborn until Shokoti's return signals for hers. When your daughter is in your hands, you will know that it is time to finish this thing with what was once your wife. Have you named her?"

"I think of her as Evelyn. It means life. Because she is the life we saved from this damnation of death. I wonder though, what she will think of this face?"

"In my experience, you are her father; she will love you. But the rest of Eternia will not. They will think you did this. The only thing that will save you from their anger will be their fear of you. I regret that I cannot save you from that."

The Faceless One turned away from Zodac and regretted a great many things. But not this. He could be the faceless monster that guarded Zalesia and saved Eternia if he could be a father to his daughter.

In the Legend called "House of Shokoti", the deeds of the Faceless One are completely obscured. To protect his daughter, he hides her mother.


End file.
